Multi-Store Model

• Multi-store model- first model of memory, Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968), proposed memory flows through 3 unitary memory stores, which are linked together through linear processing
• Linear processing- information must pass through each store in order to be processed
• Sensory register- contains immediate information that comes from the senses, coded into the iconic, echoic or haptic store, unlimited capacity, has a duration of milliseconds
• Short-term memory- contains information which is currently being thought about, coded acoustically, has a capacity of 5-9 (7+-2) items and a duration of 18-30 seconds
• Long-term memory- memories which have passed through the sensory register and STM, coded semantically, has an unlimited capacity, duration of up to a lifetime
• Environmental stimuli enters the sensory register via the 5 senses, and is processed by either the iconic, echoic or haptic store. Info can leave the sensory register through decay (and we lose access to it) or be passed onto STM if the individual pays attention to the info. In STM, info can be held for longer through maintenance rehearsal, lost via decay or displacement or transferred into LTM through prolonged rehearsal. Once info is stored in LTM, it can be retrieved and transferred to STM temporarily. Info in LTM can be lost access to through retrieval failure or interference.
• Case study- in-depth investigation into a person, group of people or community using different research methods to study them
• Strengths of a case study:

  • Allows in-depth analysis of sample
  • Provides lots of detail about behaviour- qualitative data
• Limitations of a case study:

  • Limited, unique sample which is unrepresentative= low generalisability and low population validity
  • Difficult to replicate due to lack of standardised instructions, meaning results can be unreliable
• Patient HM- partially lobotomised, had his hippocampus removed to alleviate seizures. STM and sensory register still worked, LTM damaged- can't form new long-term memories but can remember childhood memories.
• Case study of patient HM supports the fact that STM and LTM are unitary stores, but the temporal lobe was also damaged by the lobotomy, so it might not be the hippocampus causing dysfunction.
• Unitary store- the idea that STM and LTM reside in different parts of the brain and have independent functions
• MsM- Pioneering model:

  • Other psychologists were inspired to improve elements of it (e.g. Baddeley and Hitch- Working memory model, improved assumptions about STM)
  • Therefore, without the MsM, there would be no other improved models of memory, so it has good theoretical value
• MsM- Rehearsal type:

  • Mnemonics are used to remember info
  • BUT Craik and Watkins (1973)- type of information is more important than the amount of rehearsal- elaborative rehearsal (creating personal links to info)
  • Therefore, it is not a full explanation- incomplete model which can't explain why giving information meaning makes it easier to encode into LTM than repetition
• MsM- Reductionist model:

  • Reduces memory down to only 3 stores
  • Evidence suggests there are different parts to LTM- Patient HM couldn't remember facts, but could do procedural tasks
  • MsM states that LTM is a unitary store with no sub-divisions
  • Oversimplified model, doesn't explain complexity of memory